Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced long-promised changes to the rules for foreign land purchases and ownership in Australia. There are two key changes. First, the Foreign Investment Review Board…

Hochtief: the new top dog at Leighton.
Marcus Brandt/AAPMarch 13, 2014

With the move by Spanish controlled builder Hochtief/ACS to increase ownership of Leighton Holdings to 74%, management and control of a leading Australian company will go overseas. Already Leighton chief…

Imagine that Virgin Australia was majority owned by a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE). Then, if the owners of Virgin tipped A$350 million of new equity into the company to sustain Virgin through a…

London-based think tank Civitas has called for restrictions on foreign buyers as a solution to escalating house prices in the UK capital. They suggest the UK adopts a similar approach to that used in Australia…

Qantas wants a regulatory environment that would allow more foreign investment in the airline.
Paul Miller/AAPNovember 28, 2013

Why do we clamour to keep foreign-owned car makers here, paying them billions of dollars to stay, while being wary of foreign investment in farms? Around 0.1% of foreign investment last year was in agriculture…

The ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia caused a major rift in relations. Can new governments in both nations repair the damage?
AAP/Animals AustraliaSeptember 19, 2013

Australians should not be alarmed but pleased at the current Indonesian proposal to invest in cattle production in the north of Australia. It demonstrates a renewed confidence in Australia’s ability to…

A river at Cubbie Station, southwest Queensland, in 2004.
AAP/SuppliedSeptember 17, 2012

Until the recent bid from a Chinese-Japanese consortium Shandong RuYi for megafarm Cubbie Station, it appeared the property would limp along under locally-based administration. But then the opportunity…

Controversy surrounding the recent sale of Cubbie Station in Queensland near the New South Wales border to (mainly) Chinese interests is not unexpected. Fears about foreign ownership in Australia are long-standing…

One question that arises on the topic of real estate is the scale of foreign investment and ownership in Australia. It is understandable that the public has concerns about such investment, especially as…

The recent announcement that foreign mining companies in Indonesia would have to sell at least 49% of their shares to local interests raises questions about whether this indicates a change of direction…